Hi, I installed slrn and slrnpull for offline mail reading. There is no way that the default installation works even when debconf has asked all the relevant questions. Sorry for the bitch, but a whole Sunday has evaporated. An install for a dialup offline newsreader should be something that the install program can handle without manual tinkering being needed later.
(I am running potatoe in console mode on P120 m/c) The primary problem is that I cannot get the subscribed groups up in slrn. Whether I run $ slrn --spool or plain $ slrn (must be online) only the default groups are shown I have downloaded a full list of groups as groups.dat thus: $ slrn -nntp -h news.imaginet.co.za -a -f groups.dat -create There is a .newsrc file which is essentially the same as the groups.dat and is 155 bytes less. The documentation refers to .slnrc (and the /slrnpull/README.Debian gives slrnrc with no dot) but slrn.rc is what we have. This has had all the appropriate additions. set spool_inn_root "/var/spool/slrnpull" set spool_root "/var/spool/slrnpull/news" set spool_nov_root "/var/spool/slrnpull/news" set read_active 1 set use_slrnpull 1 set server_object "spool" set write_newsrc_flags 0 hostname "news.imaginet.co.za" username "inksi" Why the last two lines I am not sure, since the former is given in the file /etc/news/server , and the last seems superfluous since I am already logged into my isp via ppp connection. Also I query why the set write_newsrc_flags line should have to be manually put in when one has gone thru the debconf process as part of the installation. In fact why should any of this have to be added by hand? I have edited my groups into slrnpull.conf and also twice put the same groups into jnews.rc which is however turned back automagically to show the default installation groups with mine gone whoknowswhere. I can so far only read on-line. It is obvious that the subdirectories to /var/spool/slrnpull/news are not created to store the posts. There was no reference anywhere to changing permissions so have not attempted this. I have read the faqs etc etc and played about ineffectually for the whole of today with no success. For an offline news reader I expect to be able to mark headers while offline that I can then download on my next dialup, but I do not see how this is achieved. I have managed to read but only when online, and those posts, groups, & headers, that I have read are not retained. I have run slrnpull on its own but since it is in /usr/sbin it is not on the path and I conclude that it is meant to be integrated into the slrn program and not run seperately. I followed the instructions in /usr/share/doc/slrnpull/QUICK_INSTALL to no avail. Any broad help guidelines would be appreciated. Something has gone wrong and only the thought of all the hours spent playing around has prevented me from uninstalling the whole thing. Yours in need Ian -- Ian Balchin http://www.imaginet.co.za/fables This machine is running Debian GNU/Linux ... http://www.debian.org
